Military exercise is one thing the islands’ indigenous people must deal with when they voted in favor of the Covenant that created the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in association with the United States more than two decades ago. Environmental protection was apparently the least of their priority then.

Local officials are singing another tune now. They clamor for another round of more extensive environmental assessment survey of Farallon de Medenilla, an island north of Saipan, following a series of U.S. military bombing exercises in the area feared to have caused serious destruction in the surrounding reef.

They are concerned about the possible damages caused by military exercises in the area and want the U.S. Navy to take a closer look at the islet’s surrounding reef...

The public transport system was back on deck, enabling people to get to work.

Initially in the morning the buses allocated the route past the University of PNG’s Waigani campus refused to ferry commuters, saying they would only take them as far as Waigani. But as the day panned out, the buses returned to normal services to all points of the city.

Public offices, businesses and shops also re-opened, allowing those hit by rioting on Tuesday to start counting their losses and city residents to venture out.

Service stations re-opened also for business with a few immediately needing a re-supply of petrol, especially after heavy demand over two days.

Government offices, while open, were not fully manned as some workers stayed away in anticipation of more problems.

He said he had received information that Wenda has been jailed for six months in PNG's Wewak district for entering PNG illegally.

The police chief also said that the separatist group, the Free Papua Movement (OPM), had asked churches in Irian Jaya to mediate in the release of two Belgians who had been held hostage by the separatist group since last month in the jungles of Irian Jaya.

The talks will resume after officials from both the PNG and Bougainville delegations sort out issues that will enable a common position on application of legislation to be passed by the National Parliament.

Leaders adjourned the talks after reaching an impasse as PNG leaders struggled with the demand for double entrenchment, which basically means that they do not want any laws passed by the National Parliament to automatically apply on Bougainville unless the autonomous Bougainville Assembly adopts it or passes enabling legislation.

"We want double entrenchment so that the political settlement remains and won’t be interfered with after it is reached," Bougainville delegation co-leader Joseph Kabui said yesterday.

Mr. Kabui said that in order for long lasting peace to remain, any political settlements reached must remain intact and not be...

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (June 27, 2001 – Radio Australia)---The Northern Marianas’ representative in Washington, D.C., Juan Babauta, says a proposal to transfer some U.S. military training exercises to Guam, Saipan and Tinian has been put on hold.

The proposal was in response to calls to reduce the U.S. military presence in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa.

Mr. Babauta says a U.S. military feasibility team studying the possibilities believes the Micronesian Pacific islands are not large enough to host the exercises -- which would involve up to 25,000 troops.

He says he will suggest that Tinian be considered for sophisticated military operations in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly for intelligence and telecommunication purposes.

Tinian is a small island, with an estimated population of about 6,000 residents, which was used as a military base during World War II.

PORT VILA, Vanuatu---The government is scrambling to help hundreds of people left almost without food or fresh water following a volcanic eruption.

The National Disaster Management Office reports that an eruption on the volcanic island of Lopevi blanketed the nearby island of Paama in a layer of ash that destroyed crops and contaminated fresh water supplies.

There are no reports of injuries.

About 2,000 people have been left with contaminated water supplies and crops buried under the ash.

An Australian navy vessel has taken emergency drinking water to Paama, and another ship is due tomorrow with emergency water. One hundred high school students and their teachers will be evacuated.

A government emergency team is assessing whether to evacuate the remaining villagers.

The boat is being held until it takes back to the Solomon Islands a man who claims he is a soldier from the African country of Cameroon seeking political asylum. The vessel had transported the man to Vanuatu.

The man boarded the MV Southern Cross at Lata on its trip to Vanuatu for the consecration of the Bishop for the Banks and Torres groups of islands.

Efforts to obtain comments from the Church of Melanesia about the matter were unsuccessful. But sources told the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation that the boat was to have left Santo last Saturday for Honiara, when it was told it could not go without taking the African man.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.